The Voice of the Stone

So you want to write a story, Huh? Have any good ideas?

I have this story about a girl...

Jim and I have been collaborating on Ink Bloom for over a year and a half now. Since the book is almost finished I figure I'd give you some insight as to how we work together to develop the story and characters. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a writer. But what I do have are ideas. Lots of them. They pour out of my head sometimes into my sketch book or are inspired by a phone conversation Jim and I might have had while discussing "what should Hachi do next". We purposely developed a universe is which there are endless possibilities for Hachi to discover and grow as a hero. We started off with very broad topics and narrowed them down to a solid story. Like sculpting in marble, chipping away at the surface until you have found the voice of the stone. The most rewarding part of working the way we do is that there are no bad ideas. Once and awhile one of us will go off on a tangent on a topic that might sound crazy at first and through that craziness we find that gem of an idea. Being creative is a process. It just doesn't happen overnight. Jim and I have approached discussions of Hachi's adventures with total open minds. We don't know what's coming but we are on for the ride. Through this broad scope we then were able to narrow down people, places and things Hachi discovers. Some are very clear and the ones that aren't involve more discussion and direction from each other. The process has been creatively stimulating since our first discussions. Jim was then able to take our pages and pages of notes and character studies and graphs to develop the story and plots and subplots into solid writing. Allot of preparation went into what we now know as Ink Bloom and we couldn't be happier with the end result!

Chris